CHAPTER VII.
My Short Stay in Fort St.Andre--My First Repentance in Love Affairs I Enjoy the Sweets of Revenge, and Prove a Clever Alibi--Arrest of Count Bonafede--My Release--Arrival of the Bishop--Farewell to Venice The fort, in which the Republic usually kept only a garrison of one hundred half-pay Sclavonians, happened to contain at that time two thousand Albanian soldiers, who were called Cimariotes.
The secretary of war, who was generally known under the title of 'sage a l'ecriture', had summoned these men from the East in consequence of some impending promotion, as he wanted the officers to be on the spot in order to prove their merits before being rewarded.

They all came from the part of Epirus called Albania, which belongs to the Republic of Venice, and they had distinguished themselves in the last war against the Turks.

It was for me a new and extraordinary sight to examine some eighteen or twenty officers, all of an advanced age, yet strong and healthy, shewing the scars which covered their face and their chest, the last naked and entirely exposed through military pride.

The lieutenant-colonel was particularly conspicuous by his wounds, for, without exaggeration, he had lost one-fourth of his head.

He had but one eye, but one ear, and no jaw to speak of.